CenterBook Partners LP Purchases Shares of 30,573 nLight $LASR

CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new stake in nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 30,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in nLight by 1,599.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in nLight by 155.9% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in nLight in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in nLight in the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in nLight by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 83.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

nLight Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of LASR opened at $62.70 on Thursday. nLight has a 12-month low of $16.87 and a 12-month high of $86.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of -208.99 and a beta of 2.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.03.

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.12. nLight had a negative return on equity of 4.18% and a negative net margin of 5.08%.The business had revenue of $80.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that nLight will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at nLight

In other news, CEO Scott H. Keeney sold 46,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.48, for a total transaction of $3,200,412.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,375,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,675,541.12. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Joseph John Corso sold 35,476 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.40, for a total value of $2,497,510.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 177,572 shares in the company, valued at $12,501,068.80. This trade represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 397,682 shares of company stock worth $28,787,852 in the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LASR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on nLight in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised nLight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on nLight from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on nLight from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of nLight in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

nLight Profile

nLIGHT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications.